Europe 2012 - Day 2: Madrid

On Friday, only our 2nd day in Madrid, we got up and ate some breakfast in the room. This hostal did not include breakfast (for some reason hotels don't usually include breakfast in Spain), so we had gotten some breakfast foods at the grocery. We thought the Prado (a really famous art museum) opened at 9, so we had planned to get there at 8:45 because we had heard the lines to get in were long. We took the metro part of the way and then had to walk in the pouring rain to find that it didn't open until 10, though there were already people there waiting. It was a big fiasco trying to figure out which door to go in, but eventually we got in. We bought a museum pass which got us entry to all three of the big art museums in Madrid.

There are some great pieces of art in the Prado but we weren't all that impressed. We were following a self-tour written by Rick Steves and it seemed like most of the pieces he talked about were not where they had been when the tour was written. Maybe it was because we were already a little frazzled from having to wait for an hour in the rain, but we just weren't in the mood for it.

Once we got out of the Prado, it was about lunchtime so we headed toward Plaza Mayor and got a Bocadilla de Calamari (a bocadilla is a sandwich). I know this sounds really wierd, but it was really good. We had gotten a ham and cheese sandwich for Anya because we didn't think she would eat the calamari sandwich, but she ended up liking the calamari and ate quite a bit of it.

After we finished eating, we headed for the Palacio Royal. We got audio guides with admission and Anya slept for part of the visit but started to get a little anxious toward the end when we went through the armory exhibit. We thought the palace was beautiful (according to Rick Steves, it is one of the three big palaces of Europe next to Versailles in France which we visited in 2007 and Schoenberg in Vienna which we visited later in this trip), but it had nothing on Versailles. The rooms in the interior were beautiful but they didn't have any kind of palace gardens like most other palaces we have seen. We stopped by the Almudena Cathedral right next door. It is huge but not very attractive, especially on the inside, but it was free and considered to be one of the important churches/cathedrals in Madrid so I suppose it was worth the stop.

This is us in front of the palace.

We got ice cream on the way back to the room. After changing in the room, we headed toward Plaza de Espana, which was really beautiful. We arrived early to Las Tablaos where we had booked a flamenco show. Everything we had read said that the shows got better the later they were (some of the don't start until midnight or later), but we booked the early one at 8p because we didn't think any of us would last that long. We ordered a tapa while we were waiting. It was these little toasts with brie and carmelized onions. I know it sounds wierd, but they were soooo good. They were probably the best tapas we had while in Madrid.

Anya did so well during the show. She loved watching the dancers and listening to the music, and she clapped along with the rest of crowd at the appropriate times. The show was about an hour and she didn't fuss at all. After the show, several of the dancers and musicians came over to talk to Anya. They said they hadn't even known a small child had been in the audience until the end when they stood up to take their bows. They couldn't believe how well-behaved she was. We must have gotten really lucky! Ever since the show, Anya has been "flamenco dancing" so we got her a flamenco dress from Spain that she can wear for Halloween. Here is one of the pictures we got of the show but it's not a very good one...

After the show, we went to Cafe de Levante for dinner, which was gazpacho (a Spanish vegetable soup that is served cold), seafood paella, fruit, and sangria. We ate way too much, but the food is so good in Spain that it is hard to resist!

There are tons of street performers in Spain (there were lots in Barcelona when we were there, too) and we happened to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse at some point this day. Anya got a picture with them, but she wasn't too sure about them!